Questions and Lessons
by Couver
Summary: Of flying branches, stalker Santa and baby goats. Laura has a surprising amount of questions.


**AN: So for some reason people actually appear to still be reading my other stories which I personally find quite amazing, especially after going back and finding a multitude of mistakes. The only thing that tops that is that people are still reviewing and someone even asked for more ALEX23 stuff which is the reason why I wrote this. I hope that this story was worth it and would like to thank everyone for taking the time to read this and most amazingly actually take the time to review it. As always I don't own any of the Marvel characters.**

* * *

><p>She was back in the office, the office she had memorized down to the pattern on the carpet, right now she could tell you that her left foot was covering the corner of square and her right was in the middle of the one beside it. The professor really needed to get a new carpet in her opinion, it would at least give her something new to memorize.<p>

"Laura, what happened this time?"

He asked her as he always did after she had sat down, now came the time when she relayed her actions which he was already fully aware of. Yet another thing she thought he should change but would probably remain as permanent as his baldness.

"I cut down a tree."

Technically that was what she had done but the professor didn't look too pleased with her answer, or maybe he heard her bald comment, she had heard that men could be quite sensitive about baldness.

"I cut down one tree that I had overheard was considered dead. In the process of cutting down the tree Jamie, codename Multiple, was struck by a flying branch while another one happened to fly into the room of Tabitha, codename Boom Boom."

She knew that she was supposed to be feeling some form of regret or guilt at this moment. Truly she did feel slightly bad about Jamie, he was just an unlucky and overactive young boy who had managed to get hit in the head. Her training and experience did tell her that he should wake up soon but he would most likely be scared of her for a while which could harm their training, that of course was unacceptable. The tree on the other hand she had considered as a chore done, all of those fireballs and shots of ice had helped kill it off. The room incident, well, it's not like it had been too clean before her accident.

"I heard that there had been an incident during training involving yourself and Tabitha."

Oh, that.

"If you are referring to the incident in which Tabitha sabotaged our training session out of boredom and managed to singe off a fair amount of Amara's hair which in turn surprised her enough to hit Roberto who in turn over heated and was forced to expel his extra energy by shooting out fire at all of us, yes, that did happen."

Complete eye contact was held between the two till she finally glanced away. He was the only one that could make her look away, even Logan couldn't do that and most of the so called "normal" people, which included her fellow mutants, wouldn't even glance at him in the eyes.

"Do you perhaps think it possible that the reason why one of the branches landed in Tabitha's room is because you might have been angry at her?"

Although he posed it as a question it was clearly more of a statement, something that he didn't need to read her mind to know. In this case something that everyone knew but most would have been too scared to say.

"It is a possibility."

Laura conceded with a small nod and he smiled, this could be considered quite a bit of progress.

"Tomorrow we will be holding a special training session for some of the students. Ororo will be supervising a visit to the beach where you will be trained in scuba diving, navigation and strengthening your swimming skills. I think that this would be a nice break for you, a chance to leave the mansion. Unfortunately Tabitha won't be allowed to go because of her behaviour around the mansion."

The small smile he gave her simply confirmed his motive behind his actions, which she was extremely grateful for; she had been quite close to asking Logan when he would be going on one of his trips again.

"If you insist professor."

She gave him another nod and he smiled.

"You will be meeting at the Blackbird at six in the morning; I'll let Ororo know that she is to expect you."

With that she was dismissed and it didn't take a telepath to understand that.

Laura was the first one there; she always liked to double check her equipment before leaving when given the chance. In this case that included the Blackbird that she would always observe being fine-tuned and fixed before she had started helping out. When Logan had caught her helping once he had simply nodded and continued on, a week or so later he had invited her to help him with his bike, they didn't really speak but it had been nice.

"Hello Laura, everything is fine I presume?" Ororo was the first to come with Jean following behind her.

"Everything appears to be in working condition, where is it that we are heading?" Laura came down off of the Blackbird, easily jumping off without a thought.

"That depends on what we're told." Ororo explained while Jean snacked on her apple.

"So the professor is going to give you the final coordinates later?" Laura questioned and noticed that Jean tried to look away so as not to show her smile.

"Not exactly Laura, could you please make sure that Amara arrives on time, Kurt and Kitty are supposed to round up the rest of the group." Ororo hadn't answered her but Laura had been given a task which would distract her, she would accept it for now.

There was a reason why neither Kurt nor Kitty had been tasked with making sure that their resident volcano girl was awake and ready. Some people were simply not morning people, next to Amara however they were practically bunny rabbits. Knocking was pointless, the alarm clock that Amara was currently using was working full blast and Laura could tell that she was still sleeping soundly. Being able to sleep through anything was practically her second power.

Barging into the room Laura turned the pointless alarm clock off before calmly ripping the covers off of the still sleeping girl. Then she placed her hand over her arm to check her temperature, not foolish enough to actually touch her. Sure Laura could heal, that didn't mean that she enjoyed burning off her skin just to wake someone up, that was simply pointless. Besides it was more fun doing it Jubilee's way which Jubilee had only figured out worked after getting angry at being burned by her sleeping friend.

Walking back outside Laura headed to the nearest bathroom with the large bucket that she had dropped off outside of Amara's room in hand. Quickly enough it was filled with ice cold water and she made her way back to the room without spilling a drop, now came the fun part. The residents had all figured out their own way of dumping the large bucket of water on her, most ran off right away, others kept their distance even while throwing, Laura was more straightforward. Walking right up to the bed she lifted the bucket and simply dumped it on her, making sure to properly drench her before stepping to the side while Amara jumped out of bed. Truly Laura didn't see why Amara was so angry, she did have to wake up and the water quickly evaporated after the initial shock.

"What the hell Laura!" Amara exclaimed, it was one of the few times you could find the girl yelling at someone when it wasn't in relation to her celebrity crush or some outfit in the mall.

"Be at the Blackbird in ten for the training session." Laura reminded her and the girl calmed down before smiling.

"Ok, thanks for the wakeup call Laura." Her personality changed faster than the bucket of cold water had when it had touched her skin.

"Sure, don't take too long." Laura reminded her before leaving with a small nod, slightly surprised that she hadn't be forced to duck or deflect a fireball of any form, it was actually slightly disappointing.

Thankfully Amara didn't appear to be the last one to arrive, that would have almost been embarrassing for Laura since she took her prompt arrival personally. Instead Amara ended up sitting beside her while Laura took count of the others.

Ororo and Jean were obviously the ones in charge and Kitty and Kurt had been brought in for backup, a smart move. Roberto and Amara were chatting, since they were the resident fire heads and heading off for a day in the water it made sense that they were a bit worried and hoping for warm temperatures. Bobby, the counterpart to the fiery but sensible duo, was currently taking pleasure in icing up the seat that Rhane had momentarily vacated. Laura didn't bother stopping him, it appeared that this was some sort of ritual for him and it managed to relax and bring the group together. Truthfully Laura was more expectant of what Rhane would do in retaliation later.

"Time to buckle up!" Jean called from up front and although Rhane practically jumped when she sat down on the frozen seat she simply glared at Bobby as she waited for Amara to return her seat to normal. Her lack of an outburst meant that Laura would most likely see a larger retaliation later; at least she would have something to look forward to.

Kitty and Kurt came back from the front, most likely to keep an eye on the now awake and fidgety mutants and Alex followed right after.

"Hey guys, ready to head to one of my favorite places?"

His presence and words instantly affected the group while Kitty and Kurt took their seats. Amara and Roberto looked relieved since he was clearly talking about Hawaii; Bobby looked ready to jump out of his own seat and dance for them while Rhane simply looked happy and high fived Amara. Laura on the other hand was slightly irritated. She should have guessed that Alex would be present and that Hawaii would be the destination, recently he had been more energetic and she had caught him talking on the phone and making more references to his home.

"Hey Laur, I didn't know you were coming."

Friendly as always he greeted her specifically as he sat down across from her and beside Roberto. Laura simply nodded before remembering that she was supposed to vocally reply, it was slightly tiring sometimes having to explain her thoughts to others instead of allowing them to read her body language.

"The professor thought that this would be a good idea. I am guessing that you will be our guide and instructor in at least several of the activities."

The second part was her attempt at 'chatting' something that she was constantly being encouraged to do. It was quite a strange idea to her because as soon as she attempted to speak she was usually interrupted. She found it equally confusing that when asked for an opinion it was rarely followed, even though she was always right.

"Yeah I'll be showing you guys around. I think this is his attempt at putting me in a leader like position."

Alex seemed to be quite adept at 'chatting', maybe she would observe his technique and she could learn from him, most of the girls spoke in tones that were too high for her liking.

"By his are you referring to the professor or to your brother?"

"Possibly both, Scott has been bothering me for a while and the professor is probably just amusing him and giving me a break from him at the same time."

He grinned his usual little grin that was always accompanied by a slight tilt of the head and usually a small flip of his hair. Really it would be far more practical for him to cut it since it always managed to get in his way; still, it was hard for her to imagine him with short hair.

They engaged in some more casual conversation where Laura managed to extract more information of the trip from him. He was called up to the front by Ororo at one point though and Amara quickly attempted to include her in on the conversation she was having with Rhane. Laura was quick to compare the different styles between Amara's conversational skills and those belonging to Alex; although Amara was more skilled in voicing her thoughts Alex was considerably better at not interrupting.

When they finally arrived at their destination, and all of the students had been properly roped in and kept from running off, their tasks started right away. First a sailing trip meant to get them all working together properly, once they felt comfortable enough Ororo tossed in a few strong winds to test them out. That was followed up by a basic lesson in navigation before they were split up into groups of two for some canoeing fun. After Kurt blatantly cheated by teleporting himself and Amara ahead during their race, and Bobby made an ice slide for himself and Alex to slide on, Laura was quick to instruct Roberto on how to help them speed up. The ice slide was quickly melted and with some solar power they managed to speed up leaving Kitty and Rhane to complain. Rhane did however finally get her revenge when she went into her dog form, slipped into the water and managed to surprise the two boys in the canoe, of course she shook herself dry before diving back in. To be fair she didn't tip them over which Laura decided was quite nice of her.

Lunch break finally came and they all managed to enjoy themselves in the sun, especially Roberto who was charging up. While they were in the middle of trying to decide how to fairly split up for a volleyball match, which Laura knew for a fact would be turned into another version of mutant ball, she decided to go off and explore the surroundings. She could sense the new environment around her but she always felt better after she had properly scouted her surroundings. It was extremely important for her to know the best escape routes for any situation and be aware of spots others might be hiding. It had been easier when she had been alone, she only had to worry about herself and that was easy, now it felt like she had unknowingly adopted a pack of newborn pups.

The unneeded movement of a tree and a familiar scent easily tipped Laura off to her follower. A lesson had to be taught and Laura happened to be the perfect teacher for this lesson. It was easy enough to climb the smooth tree even without any assistance from her claws and only slight adjustments were needed to properly conceal her presence.

It didn't take long for him to come and it sounded as if he somehow managed to step on every twig and crash through every bush along the way. Then again Laura might have exaggerated slightly; it was quite tough for anyone to meet her standards of quiet.

"Laura? Laur?"

He looked quite confused as he looked around trying to spot her and she almost, _almost_ took pity on him. Maybe if he hadn't followed her she would have, no, she would still think he was a fool.

A pebble she had picked up was tossed into a bush across of her and he quickly spun around, clearly expecting something to pop up. Well at least he wasn't completely deaf. A handful of sand tossed at a neighbouring tree had him spinning around again and Laura found herself enjoying the little game.

"Laur are you here? I'm not enjoying this little game of yours." He warned and she mentally shrugged, you couldn't please everyone.

Shifting slightly in her spot she prepared herself before springing out and successfully tackling him to the ground. In his surprise he tried to fight back which simply led them to thrashing around and rolling partially into a bush before she more forcefully pinned him down. The entire time Laura had to remember to restrain herself so that he wouldn't get hurt, she highly doubted that the professor wanted to see her two days in a row.

"Alex, it is just me, Laura. Stop struggling."

With her words she instantly felt him relax and the heat from his hands practically disappeared, at least she knew that he could defend himself relatively well. Still, she rose up slowly to make sure that he was fine after the little surprise.

He sat up after she removed herself and simply watched her curiously but didn't appear irritated in any way.

"What was that supposed to be?"

He finally questioned as she sat down across from him, she had learned that people enjoy being at eye level with each other for the most part.

"A lesson. While you were following me it sounded like you were attempting to canoe on dry land. In other words you were pointlessly loud and pointless in following."

Laura explained quite efficiently while Alex seemed to enjoy himself oddly enough.

"I just wanted to make sure that you were ok. I used to come here quite often so I know the land and didn't want you to get lost."

Laura raised an eyebrow at him in shock.

"Alex, you are aware that I could probably find my way around your home in the dark better than you could? That and out of anyone present I am the most capable at scouting and fending for myself."

Laura truly felt like a broken record; constantly having to remind others that she was more than a mutant or simply a teenager.

"I can fend for myself."

He argued in turn, somehow that appeared to be the only thing that he heard. Laura had been warned that this was common among males; truthfully she found that this was common amongst most people.

"You could have easily died if I had wished for you to or if I had not been able in keep my strength in check. It is nothing to be too offended by; few are able to defeat me."

The sad part was that Laura wasn't bragging, she was simply stating the truth. Of this he was fully aware of but was apparently not ready to place himself in the group of those _not_ able to defeat her. She might have been a trained assassin from a young age and her very DNA could probably beat up that of others, but she was still a girl that looked young for age and was quite small. A taller and more obviously athletic person could easily find it more personal when their own ability was downplayed.

"You couldn't kill me by accident, I'm not that weak."

Laura didn't look too convinced but he stood up looking determined and she followed suit after seeing that he wished her to stand as well.

"No powers on either side and I could last for at least five minutes."

Even this comment almost got a laugh from her, which was quite rare in itself.

"Two minutes then, one and a half. Oh come on Laur, just humour me."

He pleaded and she gave in with a small nod.

"If you wish Alex, try and get me. You will get ten seconds free and I will still manage to beat you in twenty three."

This simply fueled him and he quickly started with a kick to the side, which was blocked. The punch was blocked and so was his attempt at tripping her. Apparently his ten seconds were over because she instantly reacted after his attempt to trip her. In no time at all he found himself on the ground yet again and with his breath knocked out of him while she simply peered down at him after pinning him yet again.

"Alex, that was pathetic; or sad as I have been told is appropriate in these types of situations." She informed him while he caught his breath and she pulled away from him.

"Yeah, yeah, next time." He countered after a while as he slowly sat up.

"It is highly unlikely that you could beat me with no powers. As they say, suck it up princess."

The last comment caught him off guard and he couldn't help but laugh. Never had he expected something like that to come out of Laura's mouth.

"What? Why are you laughing?"

She questioned, clearly quite confused which only made him more amused in turn.

"I just never expected to hear you say that."

He explained and she slowly nodded as she leaned over and picked a twig out of his hair.

"I understand; it is not considered standard when I use words or phrases more common among people of my age group. I am guessing that a good comparison would be if someone of our age group suddenly spoke in an archaic form of English."

Laura pondered all of this as they stood up, brushed the dirt off of their outfits and picked the remains of the leaves and twigs out of their hair.

"Yeah, I guess that would be a good comparison."

He grinned as he watched her inspect a dirt stain on her shorts. Since she had been highly advised against wearing one of her usual outfits Kitty had lent her some things, including the shorts which she was not supposed to get dirty.

"Come on Laur, we should head back, it's almost time for scuba diving. If it makes you feel better a scan was done beforehand and no humans were found in the area."

Laura nodded, feeling slightly better at his words, at least enough to relax for now.

"Alex, I have a question. Who is 'they' that everyone refers to?"

She questioned him again as they made their way back to the beach.

"They usually just means it's some type of popular saying. I'm not sure why we always say that though."

He explained while glancing at her from the side.

"Is it because saying 'as I once heard and have heard multiple times before in popular settings by a multitude of people' would be considered too much by some people to say?"

She suggested and he grinned as he reached out and patted her on the head, not sure himself as to why he did so.

"It's possible."

He agreed as he removed his hand from her head.

"Why did you place your hand on my head? I see adults doing that to children or to animals when they have done a good job. Or could this possible be considered a short joke in which case I am expected to be annoyed?"

She continued to question him which simply further amused him.

"For someone who could take on the Hulk you ask questions that a little kid would."

"Why is it that people refer to younger children as 'kids', they are aware that they are in fact calling them young goats are they not? Also why do they make them believe in such things as Santa Claus, a man who supposedly watches them as a stalker might and breaks into their household to leave things behind and eat their food? What I find stranger still is that they condone this imaginary figure that is a stalker and intruder yet they teach their child to be afraid of mutants. Why is this?"

The questions continued to pour out and he placed his hand on head again for a moment before trying to answer all of her questions, it would take a while.


End file.
